If you want to be encouraged, challenged, motivated, and inspired, this is the book for you. Stephen is an authentic and raw author. He told the story of his journey in a powerful and emotional way.

Not only did his writing style keep me hooked from the beginning, but it allowed me to truly connect with Stephen.

As a fellow believer, Stephen touched on subjects, feelings, and emotions that most, if not all, Christians experience at some point in their journey. Certainly things that I have struggled with.

However, this book was a powerful reminder that God has a plan for each of us. We may not feel like he does, and less likely do we have any idea what it is. But he does. And, he will use people and circumstances around you to show you that plan.

I would highly recommend grabbing a copy of this book today! You will not regret it.

Since receiving and reviewing my Apple AirPods a couple months ago, I have had the opportunity to play around with accessories specifically for the AirPods. Shortly after getting my AirPods, I was contacted by PodPocket asking if I wanted to try out their product. Of course!

And they arrived just in time. My summer was filled with a lot of travel, and these turned out to come in handy.

The PodPocket is a holder that can attach to any loop as a handy little carrier for your AirPods case. As you can see in the picture, I connected my PodPocket to my backpack for easy transportation and access this summer.

At first, I was a little skeptical. The AirPods are expensive, and I did not want to lose them by the case slipping out of a carrier that is dangling around on my backpack.

However, I was quickly impressed. The PodPocket is a rubber case that tightly grips the AirPod case. It takes some energy to slide the case into the PodPocket, reassuring the safety of the AirPods.

The rubber PodPocket is built for easy opening of the AirPods case, allowing smooth access to the AirPods inside. The bottom of the PodPocket has a large enough hole to charge the AirPod case without having to unclip the PodPocket from my backpack.

Overall, I would highly recommend these PodPockets. For only $19.95, how can you not try them out? Check out their website, Twitter, and Instagram. I am sure you will be highly impressed as well!

It has been just over a week since I got the Apple AirPods in hand – after enduring a 6-week wait process for them to arrive.

When Apple first announced the AirPods, I was immediately in love with the look and idea behind them, but withdrawn by the associated price tag on them of $159.00. As my birthday gift, though, I got a pair ordered and proceeded to the waiting period.

After pretty much forgetting about them, they arrived at the doorstep last week, and I was enamored the second I opened the case.

I have now used them daily for a week. Through that, I have experienced both pros and cons.

PROS:

They are beautiful. Just like all Apple products.

They easily and quickly connect to my Apple devices. Popping the case open the first time, the screen on my iPhone immediately responded with the battery levels of both the ear pieces and the portable case.

Both the ear pieces and the portable case have batteries – extending the overall battery life of the units. Once the ear pieces begin to get low, I just pop them back into the case, while still out and about, and the ear pieces return to a full charge within minutes.

The earbuds do not turn on until they make contact with my ear, introducing a great way to save battery.

They have incredible range. I can wear these while my phone is in the back corner of the house and easily navigate to any point of our house or yard without interruption.

CONS:

The batteries on the earbuds themselves don’t last incredibly long. I can get about two hours out of the earbuds, at most, before I need to plug them back into the case.

I jump between my laptop and my iPhone a lot. They don’t like that, and it is not a quick/easy jump to change the connection over.

It is not quick or easy to connect to my AirPods before accepting a call if the connection did not exist prior to the call coming in. This results in fumbling around while trying to entertain a conversation to get my AirPods connected to my phone, to continue the call wirelessly.

There is no way of seeing the battery level of the portable case without my laptop or phone nearby. There is no indicator on the case.

From my laptop, I can only see the battery level of the earbuds themselves, not the portable case (that I have found, at least).

All that said, I still love these AirPods, and would recommend them to anyone! They are great for people who move around a lot. For me, I am self-employed and work from coffee shops and my home office, jumping around multiple times every day. I also take them running throughout the week – and they hold up great!

I sat down this weekend and read Runaway Millionaire, by Dave Schools. I’ve had the opportunity to meet and get to know Dave some over the last couple months, and I was excited at the chance to grab a copy of his recent book and dive in.

Dave is a powerful writer, and that was strongly evident in this book.

This fictional story of a country boy who desired life in the city, ventured to the city where he was met with both success and failure, is a capturing story. I could hardly put the book down.

Many times throughout the story, I would feel personally connected with the main character, Nathan. Many other times, I would cringe at the mistake I could see him making before he even made it.

Such is life. We all experience ups and downs. We all create our own future based on the decisions we make today. This book brought those realizations back to the forefront of my mind.

Lastly, this book is a solid reminder of the value of life – and what is most important in life – love and family.

Influenster recently surveyed nearly 8,500 YouTube users of all ages to learn about their viewing habits and interests, to get a better understanding of how Generation X, Y and Z audiences consume video content differently.

Adweek compiled the information into a very helpful infographic to help us understand the differences between these generations and their video consumption trends.

Take a look below and let me know if you would like help strategizing for the best video content to reach your demographic!

In 2017, 2.8 billion people actively use social media, in a world that contains 7.4 billion people. That means 38% of our world’s population is active on social media! Yet, with the ever-changing landscape of social media, where are all these people spending their time? The 2017 State of Social Media is here to help.

Recently, multiple organizations began publishing information on platform usage, and Tracx pulled the information together into this infographic!

How does social media fit into your overall marketing plan? I would love to help you process and brainstorm the best way to make use of these platforms. Just shoot me a note!

The other day, while on my run, I had a mental battle. I wanted to stop, but I know I needed to keep going. I needed to push myself to go further than I had the day before. This way, it would be easier the next day, and in return, I could push myself even further again.

After this, I began to think back over the past few months at the different scenarios where I pushed myself to do something, and in return, I grew from it.

Things like, working out, trying a project at work that was outside my experience zone, and replacing a part on my car that I had not done before by myself. All of these items pushed me outside my comfort zone. BUT, in return, I grew from it. I learned new things. I improved my physical and mental capacities.

It is important to continually push yourself. If something makes you nervous, that is not bad. In fact, you need those items.

Always keep learning. Always keep pushing yourself to take risks, to learn new things, and to go outside of your comfort zone.

I am a productivity junkie. I love exploring new ways to make better use of the limited time we are given.

Over the past ten years, I have tested every project management / chat / productivity tool I have come across.

There are currently two tools that have been making headlines everywhere – Slack and Microsoft Teams (set to launch this year). TechWyse came out with this cool infographic that is comparing these two products, and I thought you may enjoy it.